On February 2, forty days after Christmas, we celebrate the Meeting of the Lord. It’s when Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem, and the old man Simeon recognized him as the promised Messiah.
This is one of the twelve Great Feasts of the Church year. But if you grew up Baptist or non-denominational here in Southeast Texas, you’ve probably never heard of it. Catholics call it the Presentation or Candlemas. We call it the Meeting because that’s what the Greek word Hypapante means. It’s not just about Mary and Joseph presenting their child. It’s about an encounter between God and his people.
What Happened at the Temple
Luke tells the story in his second chapter. Mary and Joseph were following the Law of Moses, which required two things. First, every firstborn son had to be presented to the Lord and consecrated to him. Second, a mother had to offer a sacrifice of purification forty days after giving birth. Mary and Joseph brought two turtledoves or pigeons, the offering of poor people who couldn’t afford a lamb.
They didn’t expect what happened next.
An old man named Simeon was there. The Holy Spirit had promised him he wouldn’t die before seeing the Messiah. When he saw the baby, he took him in his arms and spoke the words we now sing at every Vespers service: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”
Then he turned to Mary and said something darker. This child was set for the fall and rising of many in Israel. A sword would pierce her own soul.
There was also a prophetess named Anna, eighty-four years old, who never left the Temple. She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to everyone who was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Why It’s Called the Meeting
We don’t focus on the ritual requirements Mary and Joseph were fulfilling. We focus on the encounter itself. The Creator of the Law came to the Temple to fulfill the Law. The Ancient of Days became a forty-day-old infant. And in Simeon’s arms, heaven and earth met.
Simeon represents the Old Covenant recognizing the New. He’d been waiting his whole life for this moment. When he held Jesus, he held the answer to every promise God had ever made to Israel. The feast celebrates that meeting between what God promised and what God delivered.
Light and Candles
You’ll notice candles everywhere on this feast. Many parishes bless candles and process with them during the service. That comes straight from Simeon’s prayer. He called Jesus “a light to lighten the Gentiles.”
We’re not just being symbolic here. Christ is the Light of the world, and we carry that light physically because the Incarnation is physical. God didn’t send us a nice idea or a spiritual feeling. He sent us his Son in flesh, and we respond with our bodies, with beeswax and flame, with processions and singing.
Between Christmas and Pascha
The Meeting closes out the Nativity season. But it also points forward to the Cross. Simeon’s prophecy about the sword piercing Mary’s soul isn’t just poetic. It’s about what’s coming. This feast stands between the manger and Golgotha, reminding us that the Incarnation leads to the Passion. You can’t separate Christmas from Pascha. The child Simeon held would die and rise again.
That’s why this feast matters more than you might think. It’s not just a nice story about an old man meeting a baby. It’s about God entering his own Temple, submitting to his own Law, and revealing himself to those who had eyes to see. Most people in Jerusalem that day saw a poor couple with their firstborn. Simeon and Anna saw salvation.
How We Celebrate It
If you come to St. Michael’s on February 2, you’ll experience Vespers the night before and Divine Liturgy in the morning. We sing Simeon’s prayer with extra attention, because this is his feast. We light candles. We hear the Gospel reading from Luke. The hymns talk about how the Lawgiver came under the Law, how the One whom Simeon held actually holds the universe in his hand.
There’s no fasting required. It’s a feast day, which means we celebrate. If February 2 falls on a weekday, many Orthodox Christians still make the effort to attend Liturgy. It’s that important.
The icon of the feast shows Simeon holding the Christ child with covered hands, the way a priest holds the Eucharist. Mary stands nearby with her hands veiled too, offering her son. Sometimes Anna appears in the background. The image captures the moment when the old prophet finally saw what he’d been promised.
If you’ve never experienced this feast before, come see what it’s about. Simeon waited his whole life for that meeting. We get to participate in it every year.
